Two Curlies and a Blonde
by SnarkySusan
Summary: AU Late S9-S10. Mark continues into remission, Doug and Carol come back from Seattle after 3 years, and Carol meets Susan and Elizabeth after so long. This brings back good old days, but will it bring along the unfinished business? CHAPTER 4 UP
1. Chapter 1

TITLE: Two Curlies and a Blonde

AUTHOR: SnarkySusan

GROUP: Elizabeth/Susan/Carol friendship, Mark/Elizabeth, Doug/Carol, Chuck/Susan

DISCLAIMER: I do not own ER. If I did, I would have more Susan/Lizzie/Carol interaction. Review if you appreciate it. Constructive criticism is also welcome, as I want to improve.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a rewrite of Two Curlies and a Blondie. Removed lots of filler descriptions, and added some new lines.

Blaring neon lights blinked rapidly as the music pumped its fast steady beats at one of Chicago's most sought after rave clubs. It was 2am, and while Chicago's normal, non-party-going citizens are well into their slumber, for the people in this contrasting area of black lights and neon, the fun was only beginning.

"I'm so glad you came back to Chicago!", Susan beamed at Carol, who was sitting beside her on the tiny round table. "You know how I miss seeing your face at work."

"When you left County, I never thought you would come back after four years.", Elizabeth said, sipping a drink from her glowing cup. "One more year, and I really have to say this Susan, I apologize, you just pulled a Lewis."

The three women laughed at Elizabeth's comment on how Carol came back. It has been three years since she last saw Elizabeth, and six since she last saw Susan, so this meeting, despite being in the last place she finds herself in, was really special for her.

"Yeah, it's great for us to be back here. Seattle was great, but I missed Chicago.", Carol said, smiling.

"Wait, Susan, how did you find this place?", Elizabeth asked. "I know it's not really my type of place, but after being stuck with Beethoven and Bach for eight straight hours, rave sounds like heaven to my ears."

"I went to this club with Abby and Chen a few months ago.", Susan answered. "You know, after the whole walkout thing."

"Chen? As in Deb Chen? Never expected her as the clubbing type." asked Carol.

"You should've seen her that time." squealed Susan. "There she was drowning all of her sorrows in cheap club soda and stage diving antics. Better than jumping off the County rooftop though."

"Not if it involves showing up at work with a terrible hangover, like you did during your next shift." said the third voice, sensuous with a heavy British accent. "Remember how you described it, Susan?"

"Yeah, it was an intense game of Mexican Tag, all right." said the husky voice, now known as Susan. "Didn't help that Carter chewed me out for not knowing that Abby's a recovering alcoholic. How should I know? She never even told me!"

The lights then shifted its blinding glare on the group. The sudden shift in brightness had them react like vampires upon encountering a glinmer of sunlight. Unlike the clubbers dressed in loud prints and shiny metals, they were in snappy collared shirts and dark slacks. In fact, Carol was wearing her scrub pants from work.

"So any luck on the males, Susan?" asked Carol. "A beautiful woman like you doesn't deverve to be single for this long."

"Well, I dated a venture capitalist, a vegan who I turned down because In really don't want to give up steam, and some flight nurse who I met on a flight to Las Vegas." said Susan. "Chuck, the nurse, I'm on and off. He's doing his rotation in Chicago right now, so he sometimes ends up in County when he brings down someone for the zombie docs downstairs to treat."

Carol's eyes widened at the mention of a flight and looked shocked as she faced Susan once more.

"Wh- wh- ", Carol stammered. "I mean, H- h- how?"

"I know, it was a really stupid thing to do.", Susan said, bowing her head down.

"No. I mean how did you get on a plane?", Carol asked, knowing full well that Susan has a long-standing fear of flying.

"And, a little bird told me that you were once married to that flight nurse. Is it true?", Elizabeth whispered, eager to know .

"How I got in the plane and ended up with Chuck is a long story. One that should be talked about in another time, or the bouncers here will probably carry us one by one." said Susan, blushing from a mix of embarrassment and giddyness. "All I can say right now is that it involved Xanax, a drive-thru and lots of cheap alcohol."

Attempting to change the topic, Susan then sidelined, "So how are you and Doug?"

Carol suddenly beamed at the mention of Doug's name grinned from ear to ear. It was so contagious that the two other women with her did the same thing.

"Doug was doing well as a pediatrician in a private hospital until it closed due to budget cuts. Tess and Kate are starting preschool this fall, and Doug and I are really excited to come back to County after all these years." said Carol, still smiling. "Despite the circumstances, absolutely great. Life couldn't be any better."

"What about you and Mark, Elizabeth?" she asked facing the other curly haired woman. "I heard you two had quite a scare these past few months."

"It was a rather...complicated twist of events, to put it mildly." whispered Elizabeth. "Ella accidentally overdosed on ecstasy, Rachel was her usual hormonal self, Mark's still in remission thank god. If it wasn't for you, plus many other people, I would've ran myself over the El tracks."

Just as Susan was about to open her mouth, the music got louder and faster, almost erratic even. The thumping of the rhythm was so strong that it made the three jump out of their seats - literally.

"Looks like the music gods are telling us to get our bottoms up and go front and center." said Elizabeth, the beats sending her in a trance-like state. She and Carol were about to head to the color-shifting squares when...

"WAIT! We forgot something", shouted Susan with a tone that in the usual day will echo from a 5000 mile radius. In this case, it's more like the club classification of the indoor voice. She then took three plastic glow in the dark cups, each three quarters filled with a yellowish, sparkling, bubbly liquid, and said, already a bit tipsy. "I'm going to propose a toast - to one hell of a night."

"To a hell of a night!" the women cheered, all of them taking the liquid in one huge gulp; The liquid drawing a line in their throats. It has been a while since they all drank such, so they almost immediately felt the effects.

But it wasn't enough. Susan kept ordering the so-called "Magic Drink" until they lost count on how many they drank at that very moment. At that point, the music was at its loudest, the dancing at its rowdiest, and the drinking the hardest.

Carol, Susan and Elizabeth were probably among the most intoxicated ones in the club. Carol was starting to babble in the little Russian she learned from her mother, mostly aimed at Susan. Susan meanwhile was singing random nursery rhymes in the usual drunken slur while Elizabeth kept dancing in a spaced out expression.

"I'm a little teapot short and stout, here is my handle and here is my spout..." slurred Susan while looking at the empty, vacillating eyes of Elizabeth. "When the water's boiling here me shout. Lift me out and pour me out. Come on, Lizbeth, dance with me."

While Carol was dancing a rather disjointed, incoherent combination of disco, hiphop, and a tiny bit of polka, Susan then grabbed Elizabeth's arm and positioned them as if they were about to do the tango. Elizabeth, seemingly possessed and out of whack from the sheer amount she drank, let herself go and simply let herself be led to dance by Susan.

"Ooooh, shiny..." was all Elizabeth managed to say during three hours on the dance floor. The rest of the night went into such a blur until they all ended up in their respective houses.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2: Headaches and Banana Shakes**

_SUSAN LEWIS' APARTMENT**  
><strong>As the alarm clock's obnoxious tone rang across the four walls of her small apartment bedroom, Susan's eyes and brain have been playing a long, intense game of Mexican Tag in her pounding head. It was clearly a close fight: Susan's eyes seemed to have been programmed to close shut as her brain has been programmed to scream, "YOU STILL HAVE A SHIFT AT 9. WAKE UP!"_

After a neck-in-neck struggle, Susan forced her eyes to open as wide as she could and gingerly rose out of her bed to prepare for her 9am shift, while at the same time attempting to ignore the massive pulsating pounding pressure on her skull.

Slowly, she walked to her bathroom to freshen herself up, scrubbing her face so hard in a futile attempt to mask the effects of last night's debauchery. She lives alone, which meant that it's all up to her to nurse its after-effects.

_"At least those two have husbands to take care of them when they're like this", Susan thought._

Susan can't believe what they did that night. She knows she, Carol and especially Elizabeth are quite vigilant when it comes to the consumption of alcoholic beverages, not taking more than they can handle. But she shouldn't think that much, she said to herself. It worsens the headache.

Still, the urge to make her usual pot of coffee remained, even if she learned its effects during a hangover the hard way. As hard as she did trying to resist the urge, her hands seem to bring her closer to the jar of coffee beans on her counter top.

Yet her body had its own ways to deal with this, as it always did. Her stomach started to churn like no other, and a wave of nausea surfaced within her. Enough to make her queasy, though not enough to make her throw up.

Ransacking the fridge for at least some relief, Susan managed to find some leftover Gatorade from two days ago. Desperate for a cure, she downed the bottle, just like how she downed those countless "Magic Drinks" from the club.

With only thirty minutes left before the start her shift, Susan grabbed the bag and headed for the nearest El station. Driving is definitely NOT an option right now.

_HATHAWAY-ROSS RESIDENCE_

Meanwhile two streets away, Doug was fighting a losing battle getting his hung-over wife out of their bed. Prodding? Nope, didn't even flinch. Banging metal pot lids? Useless, and even counter-productive because it woke up the groggy, sleepy twins, not the alcohol-influenced, deeply sleeping wife.

Finally, he tried a proven-to-be-working trick: Tickling her feet. As Doug worked his magic touch on Carol's ticklish spot, she started kicking and flinching, hitting Doug and luckily, narrowly missing his male parts. Carol kicked him so hard, Doug almost found himself flying towards their dresser.

As Doug got up off the spot Carol sent him flying to, he sighed relief when he found a pouting, frowning Carol sitting up on the bed while sending him a look that can break ice sculptures in seconds, obviously not happy being disturbed from her sleep.

"How's my honeybunch doing?" asked Doug in his lovey-dovey voice.

"Like I've been run over by a truck that crushed me flat." Said Carol. "You know I hate being woken up like this."

"You had a rather great sleep there. You even hogged the entire bed."

"What time is it?"

"Fifteen till ten." Stated Doug while looking at the clock on the bedside table. Upon hearing the time, Carol suddenly shot up and ransacked the dresser looking for her scrubs.

_"If only I had a banana bag with me today." _Doug initially thought_. "Oh right, I have something better than that."_

Just then, knowing how much Carol drank that night, he led Carol downstairs to the dining room, Tess and Kate already seated on their usual places.

"All right, one stack of blueberry pancakes with crushed animal crackers on top, and one glass of freshly squeezed orange juice for the queen" declared Doug. "…and two more stacks for the little princesses."

Despite the hangover, Carol ate her breakfast heartily, savouring each and every bite. Every now and then, she would rub her temples in an attempt to lessen the headache, which led to questions from the twins.

"Daddy, why is Mommy rubbing her head?" asked Kate, with Tess chiming in. "Is she sick?"

"Well, Mommy's head hurts right now, so she rubs her head to make it hurt less." Said Doug. "Maybe the breakfast will make her feel better."

Whispering to Carol, he said, "…I'll run the bath later. How do you like your bubbles?"

"Overflowing.", Carol said in a low voice. "Just like how we always did it."

"Care if I join in there later?",asked Doug with a twinkle in his eye. "I know there's room for two."

Doug rapidly raised his eyebrows and looked at Carol with that look. With that, Carol blushed and playfully hit him on his shoulder.

"Doug! There are children in here."

_CORDAY-GREENE RESIDENCE_

The sounds of retching and heaving echoed around the bathroom of the Corday-Greene residence one spring morning. Elizabeth, not used to such sudden intake of alcoholic drinks after a period of sobriety from nursing Ella, prayed to the porcelain god as Mark held back her curly hair in order not to cover it with her vomit.

"I'm never going to drink this much ever again!" Elizabeth declared as she heaved some more. Yet another wave of nausea passed on, which made her put her head down to the toilet.

Mark, as patient and loving as he ever was, simply held her close as they walked to the living room where two year-old Ella is contentedly playing with her toys in the playpen.

"You're not on until twelve, right?" asked Mark.

Elizabeth simply nodded, still unable to hold her head up in fear of throwing up again.

"Wait here so I can fix you something." Said Mark as he went to the kitchen. "Be right back."

Unfortunately, with a massive headache came a hypersensitivity to loud noises. As Mark turned on the blender in the kitchen, so did the grating sound Elizabeth thought she was hearing. Combined with the basting music from Rachel's room upstairs, the mish-mash of sounds making her feel like her head's going to explode.

"WILL YOU TURN DOWN THAT BLOODY MUSIC?" screamed Elizabeth to her stepdaughter upstairs.

Thankfully, Rachel seemed to be in a good mood that morning, and compliantly turned down the music to a more tolerable level. However, the blender was still whirring around like a maniac on crack; The sound magnifying ten times on her mind. What's a normal 10 becomes a 100 in her current state.

The whirring stopped eventually, to Elizabeth's sigh of relief. A few minutes later, out comes Mark carrying a tray with a glass of a milky yellow liquid.

"We don't have banana bags at home, so a banana shake will do the trick." Said Mark with a smile. "I'm not surprised that you're like this. Doug and I had to practically carry you upstairs when you passed out in the car."

Elizabeth, out of sheer need to replace all the fluid she offered to the porcelain vessel, simply grabbed the shake and took a little sip. Slowly, but surely, she emptied the contents of the glass as her stomach gradually started to settle, and turning the massive headache to a milder one.

"Thanks Mark." Said Elizabeth.

Mark then sat beside his wife, gently putting his hand over her shoulder as she nursed herself back to sobriety. Soon, Elizabeth's eyes started to droop: a sign that she's about to have a peaceful slumber, or at least enough to get her through a shift later that afternoon.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I do not own anything. Just borrowing them. Also, thanks to my beta Brian (Boris Yeltsin). :) **

Spring: County's allergy season. Not a single seat in the triage area was left unfilled as a multitude of coughing, sneezing, scratching patients continue to come in, with the occasional punctuation of people with headaches or open wounds. On the other side of the panel between triage and admit, racks were stocked with various antihistamines ranging from creams to injection vials.

"It's already nine thirty in the morning. Where the hell is everyone?"

The piercing tones of Kerry Weaver reached across the four walls of the entire ER while she limped around it looking for any sign of even a single doctor coming through any of the doors. Meanwhile, Frank and Jerry were arguing over who gets the last bagel on the desk while nurses Chuny, Malik and Conni were running around the curtain areas tending to open wounds and queasy patients.

"The board is full and there's another 30 lined up in the rack.", Kerry said. "Was there a sudden flu epidemic in County or some natural disaster I haven't heard anything about?"

"Kovac called. He said he has things to attend to so he'll be late.", Jerry said.

"Again? Tell him that I'll have his ass once he gets here.", Kerry snapped. "Add a docked paycheck and a week's worth of doubles to that too."

Jerry then proceeded to pick up the phone and called Luka Kovac for the second time that morning. Meanwhile, Susan entered through the ambulance bay with eyebags the size of suitcases and her usually radiant glowing skin as pale as the walls of the admit area.

"You're late. Your shift's supposed to start at nine.", Kerry told Susan.

"Sorry, Kerry.", Susan said softly as she approached the lounge. "The El train I was in stopped in the middle of two stations so I had to take the bus."

"I don't care if the El stopped or you missed the bus. We're still short of doctors, now go!"

Meanwhile outside the ambulance bay, Carol and Doug were taking a leisurely walk towards the ambulance entrance since their shifts start at ten and eleven in the morning, respectively. Carol was leaning on Doug's shoulder as they walked and laughed their way in.

"You liked that, didn't you?", Doug asked.

"No. I hated it.", Carol mock-angrily told him. She almost succeeded in convincing him that she "hated" whatever Doug was implying until she slowly gave him a smile. Doug simply dismissed Carol's words and kept on walking along

"You keep saying you hated it, but your face is saying otherwise.", Doug said. "I knew you couldn't resist a bubble bath like that."

"Doug, you know it was more than a bubble bath.", Carol said while giving him THAT look that meant only one thing to him. "If you know what I mean."

Soon, they reached the door to the ambulance bay, still playfully laughing and holding each other's hands as they went. They were met by the small, but powerful figure of Kerry Weaver when they went in.

"Save all the couple talk for later. You have patients to see.", Kerry snapped.

"But my shift's not until eleven.", Doug answered back. "Carol's not until ten."

"Your shift is going to start when I tell you to start, and I say your shift starts now, so move it!"

Doug and Carol muttered angrily before going inside the lounge.

"I see Weaver's still being a party pooper after all these years.", Doug said once he slammed the door leading outside.

"Come on, Doug. Cut her some slack.", Susan said, knowing that Kerry had just undergone a miscarriage last week. "She has been through a lot of stress these past few days."

"Since when have become a champion for Kerry Weaver?", Doug questioned. "Last time I saw you, you were ready to punch her in the guts. Did she pay you to be nice to her?"

"No, but I just think that after not seeing her for five years, I just thosught that you can't harbor any bad feelings about someone for that long.", Susan answered. "Okay, she still gets on my nerves sometimes. But still."

"You do not know the entire story about me and Kerry.", Doug interrupted.

"Susan's right, Doug.", Carol added. "Kerry's not the best person to work with, but you have to admit, she's good at what she's doing. Besides, four years is a plenty of time for a person to change. You just have to work with it."

Doug raised both of his arms and sighed in resignation, "All right, I'll try to be nice, but I will not promise anything."

The three were just about to finish up when Chuny suddenly popped in to tell them, "MVA two minutes out. One adult, two kids."

Doug and Susan hastily wore their lab coat and briskly walked out of the lounge, Carol trailing behind them. A line of three gurneys met them immediately after they stepped out.

"Tristan Reeves, 35, with a history of diabetes. BP is 90 over 50, pulse 60. Seizure on route.", Morales the paramedic darted. "His kids are behind me."

"Susan, you take this one.", Doug said, rolling the gurney towards the blonde doctor. "I'll take the kids."

Susan then led the gurney to Trauma Two. Just as they were halfway down, Tristan started to convulse yet again.

"Let's get him to Trauma Two quickly. Get him a CBC, Chem 7, blood gas, chest X-Ray and a head and abdominal CT.", Susan quickly said. "We need to intubate and stop the seizing."

Behind them, Zadro was busy bringing in a girl of around six, who was hyperventilating and moaning incoherently the whole time she was rolled in the ER. Behind him was her brother, James who was still conscious apart from a broken arm, a broken leg and some deep gashes to the head.

"Julia Reeves, restrained passenger with broken ribs, legs and possible internal bleeding. Altered mental status. BP 80 over 50, pulse tachy at 140, resps 24."

"All right, let's bring her to Trauma One.", Doug commanded. "Bring the brother to Curtain Area 1."

Meanwhile in Trauma Two, Susan, Chuny and Malik were struggling to stop Tristan's seizing. She had already pushed two of Ativan, and it still had no effect.

"Glucose is low at 68.", Malik said to everyone.

"I need 25 grams of glucose. We need to get his blood sugar up.", Susan said. Upon saying those words, the monitors started to beep erratically, the lines on the monitor just as erratic.

"V-Fib!", Chuny suddenly shouted just as Malik came back with the glucose injection.

"Give him the glucose first."

After pushing the glucose, they resumed with reviving him. Luckily the paddles worked on the first try

Back in Trauma One, Doug struggled to get Julia's pulse up. She crashed two minutes ago and despite doing CPR, her heart rate and blood pressure kept falling dangerously low. Eventually, the monitor uttered a flat beeping tone, a straight line appearing on it.

"Asystole.", Conni declared.

In Curtain Area One, Carol was busy putting a cast on James Reeves' left leg when the boy suddenly asked something to her.

"Will my dad and my sister be okay?", James asked.

"I can't really say anything, but the doctors and the nurses are doing everything they can to get them better.", Carol softly whispered. "I'll try ask once I finish putting your cast, okay?"

With that, James simply nodded.

_Five minutes later..._

"What do we have here?", Elizabeth asked as she walked in Trauma Two.

"Left upper quadrant tenderness upon exam.", Susan said. "He was hypoglycemic when he came in but we managed to get his blood sugar up to normal."

Elizabeth then proceeded to do her own exam on Tristan, feeling her way on his abdomen. Just then, Malik came back with his CT scan results, which he gave to Elizabeth. She then placed the film on the viewer and observed the film.

"Damaged liver and a ruptured spleen.", Elizabeth finally spoke. "Let's get him to the OR.

_Ten minutes later..._

"Charge to 300 and clear!", Doug commanded as he attempted to shock Julia's heart for the seventh time. Alas, the flatline remained. "How long has it been?"

"Twenty-eight minutes.", Conni answered.

"I'm calling it.", Doug sighed and reluctantly put the paddles down as he looked at the wall clock. "Time of death: 14:38."

The flat sound of the heart monitor was finally turned off, and the yellow room has enveloped itself in complete, total silence.

Over at the admit area, Luka's tall, dark-haired figure emerged from the ambulance bay, walking casually through the doors. Unfortunately Kerry was the first person he met on the way, leaving him on the receiving end of Kerry's tirade.

"Kovac, this is the fifth time you were this late for your shift.", Kerry suddenly snapped.

"I told you I had things to do.", Luka answered back, continuing to walk himself in.

"For five times?", Kerry asked angrily. "I'm getting tired of covering your ass and having others cover your shifts. I'll have your paycheck docked and you'll receive a week's worth of doubles. Understand?"

"Okay, just let me get my coat on first.", Luka said.

Carol was running towards the trauma rooms to get some news on Tristan and Julia when she suddenly bumped into Luka on the way, causing all her charts to fall off. Carol proceeded to pick up the charts and when she looked back up, her eyes suddenly widened upon seeing who she bumped into.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Again, thanks to my beta Brian for all the help. **

Luka stammered upon looking up. "C- C- Carol? Is that really you?"

The tall Croatian doctor found himself looking down on this person who he had always thought he had a chance with three years ago. Somehow, he knew that he shouldn't really take his chances, given that all she talked about when they were in each other's company was Doug and the twins. But the stubborn person that he was, he kept pushing on futility until Carol suddenly took off and took that plane to Seattle.

Now, Carol was back in town, and this was not simply for a visit, given Carol's current scrub attire. Suddenly, he found himself having a constant reminder of how his relationships with women are after his wife passed away. As if Abby with Carter wasn't enough for him. A moment of silence long enough to be deemed awkward surrounded them until Carol finally asked, "So...how's things?"

Luka looked down on his feet and shuffled them on the ground. "The usual. Work, some other things."

"Anything new in life?"

"Nothing worth talking about.", Luka answered before adding, "I really need to get in the lounge. Weaver already has my back and delaying only adds fuel to the flame."

"Oh, okay. I'll have to get some news about a patient anyway. See you around, I suppose?"

Luka simply nodded and scurried himself towards the lounge when Carol suddenly told him, "and by the way, it's adding fuel to the fire."

Carol briskly walked towards the trauma rooms looking for any sign of Doug or Susan. Upon seeing both rooms already clean and unoccupied, she roamed around the ER looking for either one of them to appear. She was already on her fourth lap when she finally found Doug emerging from Exam Room 2. "There you are! I've been looking all over for you Any word about the dad and the kid? James has been waiting for me for any news."

"The dad is already upstairs in the OR for a ruptured spleen. Julia is another story, though. She died on the table."

Carol, still not very confident on telling someone, a child especially, that they just lost a sibling, immediately looked at Doug with the expression that said, "Will come with me?"

The two then walked back Curtain One, where James was taking a rest.

"James, this is Dr. Ross. He's the one who treated your sister this afternoon.", introduced Carol. She the looked at him with that knowing look.

Doug moved forward towards James and dragged the stool on his left side. Slowly, he sat down, heaved a sigh, and prepared himself to talk about the inevitable.

"Hey James. How are you feeling?", Doug asked the boy.

"A bit sore, but I'm feeling a bit better."

"Great.", Doug smiled. His mood shifted as he said his next words. "I'm here to talk about your sister Julia."

The pediatrician's voice started to hesitate before giving him the news. He has done this to numerous people in his almost fifteen years as a pediatrician, but somehow giving this kind of news to a child is something he has always had a difficult time with.

"I was the one who treated your sister Julia here a few hours ago.", Doug slowly said. "We did everything we could to save her, but her injuries were too severe, he heart stopped beating and she died. I'm sorry."

"Wh- wh- what about Dad?", James asked, the tears threatening to fall.

"Your dad's in surgery right now. I'll try to get news from Dr. Corday, but I'll get back to you as soon as I hear something, okay?", Carol continued.

Just then and there, all those bottled up emotions crashed into James and he turned into a sobbing heap. Carol sat down next to him and offered her shoulder for James to cry on.

The bald, bespectacled figure of Mark Greene emerged from the lounge just moments after Doug left Carol and James alone to grieve for the loss of his sister.

"About time you finally showed up.", Doug said to the man in green scrubs.

"Just came from a blood draw up in Oncology.", Mark told his friend, showing the cotton-covered spot on his left arm. "Have to do it for five years before they consider me cancer-free. Where's Susan?"

"I think she's sleeping in one of the exam rooms. Why?"

Mark brought out a teal dress and a pair of red pumps into plain view. "Susan asked Elizabeth to lend her a dress and shoes for a date tonight after her shift. Elizabeth had to go up to surgery right away so she asked me to bring this to her."

"A date?", Doug asked, immediately perking up. "With who?"

Mark simply shrugged his shoulders. Suddenly, as if on cue, the piercing tone of Kerry's voice echoed across the hall.

"Why is everyone treating non-critical patients before checking the board first?", Kerry snapped. "Triage is there for a reason. Treat ALL critical patients first before moving down the scale. Understood?"

Doug and Mark then went their separate ways, Mark walking the direction of the exam rooms while Doug proceeded to admit.

"Patient in Exam 2 with severe diarrhea and fever times two days.", Carol announced, waving the chart. "Somebody better get him before he stinks up the place."

"I'll take him." said Luka's distinctly accented male voice from behind. The mere sound of it made Carol jump a little in surprise.

Carol then led him to Exam Room 2, where the patient, a man in his fifties, made a mess on the exam room floor. Carol and Luka tried their best to ignore the pungent odor as Luka did an exam on him while Carol took notes.

The uneven, slurring notes of a drunk man's singing arrived in the exam room, with Susan and Malik coming in with him.

"The hell is that smell?", Malik, crinkling his nose as he interjected. He then looked down at the puddle in front of him. "Oh."

"No more critical patients needed to be taken care of, so I deal with drunks today.", Susan snarked. "This is his second banana bag and he's been singing I'm Little Teapot over and over again."

Carol, who has remembered at least some of what happened in that club, remarked, "Reminds me of someone I used know when she's drunk."

Susan simply looked at the dark-haired nurse bewildered.

"Never mind.", Carol sidelined, going back to writing on the chart.

"He's probably just dehydrated. Give him 2 liters of saline to get his fluids, but I'll order a CBC, Chem 7 and lytes just to be safe.", Luka said, giving Carol the chart back. Luka's hands accidentally brushed against Carol's and made the latter step back a little.

Susan noticed this strange behavior and as soon as she was done with the drunk patient, she asked Malik to watch him and she and Carol stepped out of the exam room.

"Carol, what's wrong?", Susan asked. "You seem to be a bit jumpy when Luka touched you in the exam room."

"Nothing's wrong. It's just that I...", Carol answered back before realizing that the admit area is not the most private place to tell everything to Susan. "Not here, come with me."

The nurse then dragged Susan to the elevator. The elevator then rapidly zoomed upward until they reached the rooftop. As soon as the doors opened, Carol hurriedly walked towards the chairs that have been there for more than ten years, Susan following suit.

"Why here?", Susan questioned. "Why now?"

Heaving a long sigh, Carol prepared herself to tell Susan what transpired three years ago between her and Luka.

"It all started when Doug left County four or so years ago. I won't go into details about what happened to him before, what what it was, it made him leave.", Carol started to narrate, talking about the Ricky Abbott incident.

"I was alone, lonely without him, and a few weeks after, I discovered I was pregnant with the twins."

Susan, suddenly feeling out of the loop about what transpired during her time in Phoenix, continued to look at Carol and listen to the entire story. "What's Luka got to do with this?"

Carol smiled and shared a hearty chuckle with Susan. "If it wasn't for Luka finding me in the El, I would have given birth in the train. You've got to admit, he's a really strong guy. He got to carry a woman who was carrying twins from the El station all the way to County.

"He wasn't that different from how he is now."

As they sat themselves on that bench that has stood there for so long, the sun started to fall down, making way for the moon that greets the night.

"What happened next?", Susan asked.

"After I gave birth to them, I had to raise Tess and Kate all by myself. Being Nurse Manager and single mother to twins is definitely not easy.", Carol continued. "Luka was a big help to me back then. He helped me as much as he could."

Looking back at what she said, Carol realized that Luka indeed played a big part in how her life is right now. If it wasn't for that kiss they shared one night, she wouldn't have taken that flight to Seattle, where Doug was with his boat waiting for his love to arrive.

"You what?", Susan gasped, her heart jumping from shock.

"I did. To be honest, I never felt any spark or anything of that sort like when I kiss Doug.", Carol said. "It seemed to be more of a one-sided thing."

"It was probably guilt and post-traumatic stress.", Susan offered. "The man lost his entire family in the war. Pretty sure he's finding someone or something that somehow...compensates for that ."

"I'm just scared that since things ended so suddenly between the two of us, he would already be resenting me or something.",

"You can vouch me for this one, but the guy has totally moved on. In fact, he has not talked about you since...I don't know, a year, maybe? Poor guy though. Thought he had a chance with Abby as well, but Carter just keeps beating him into it"

Carol looked at Susan with a shocked expression. "Abby? As in Abby Lockhart, the OB nurse who became a med student?"

Susan nodded in approval and interjected, "She used to be a med student, but she had to stop because her ex-husband stopped paying her tuition. She's a nurse in the ER now."

"How did I not see her earlier?"

"I think she's working nights today."

Carol sighed heavily as she looked at the view overlooking County's rooftop. The sounds of the incoming El train filled the air as she found herself deep in thought of what she missed in the three years she spent in Seattle with her family, how County has changed a lot since she left.

The blonde doctor was thinking of the very same thing. She found herself being bewildered with what she missed in all those years she was in Phoenix, and both wondered how things could have been if they had stayed in County all throughout. She hasn't told Carol about her and Carter, nor did she tell her about how she felt after finding out about Mark's brain tumor, but that would be for another time.

But there was still a big gap in their timeline of events: The year after Carol left for Seattle, and before Susan came back to Chicago. And in their mind, there was only one person who can tell them what happened that year.

"Looks like you have been enjoying yourselves up here.", chimed Elizabeth's British voice from behind. "Mind if I join in?"

"Sure, make yourself at home.", Carol said, scooting over the middle part of the bench to make room for the new arrival. As soon as Elizabeth was seated, Carol asked her, "So, how's surgery?"

"Tristan made it through, thank goodness.", Elizabeth sighed in relief. "Almost lost him, but we got him back. How were the kids?"

"Julia, the six-year-old, didn't make it.", Carol sadly said. "James is still alive, but I really do not know if the thought of losing his sister has sunk in yet."

The three women looked at the view yet again, noticing that the sky has completely gone dark and lights scattered around the vicinity. Susan then looked at her watch and realized, "Oh crap, I forgot that Chuck and I reserved dinner for 8PM tonight, and I have...a couple of hours to prepare."

"Did you get the dress and shoes from Mark already?", Elizabeth asked.

Susan nodded quickly as she rushed to get up from the bench and briskly walk towards the elevator before looking back. "Thanks Elizabeth!"

Elizabeth laughed at the sight of Susan running off to prepare herself for her date. "What kind of woman forgets they have a dinner date with someone?"

"The same kind of woman who goes to Las Vegas, gets drunk and gets married all at the same day?", Carol answered, eliciting a laugh from the surgeon, which made she laugh herself.

"I don't remember Mark forgetting dinner dates.", Elizabeth said. "Well, crashing a wedding is a bit more of our style."

"You two seriously crashed a wedding?"

"More of a wedding reception, actually.", Elizabeth answered. "And I have to admit, the two of us dance the Tango very well."

The nurse offered her hand to the surgeon as if offering to a dance. "Care to give me a sample? Something to spice up our romance, perhaps?"

The surgeon gave a tiny smile at the nurse's direction. "As if your sex life needs some spicing up. If your first date involves finding yourself on the kitchen floor, I do not know what happens in the succeeding ones."

Carol was about to explain what happened on her and Doug's first date before taking back her words. "Wait, exactly how did you find out about that?"

"Overheard things from the grapevine.", Elizabeth said, her eyes shifting from left to right. "Not the nurses though I have gathered lots of things from them, but one person in blue scrubs."

Carol knew who Elizabeth was talking about.

"Of course he had to share that. He's not called Doctor Intercom for nothing", Carol rolled her eyes before laughing. "Well, a lot of people know so it's not necessarily a secret."

"It's nothing to be ashamed of. We all have those moments", Elizabeth told the nurse. "The times where we just want a hot, steamy snog with someone you love."

The curly-haired surgeon looked in hesitation before telling Carol, "I have a confession to make. Will you promise not to tell anyone?"

Carol nodded and gestured her hands over her lips in a zipping motion. After which, Elizabeth attempted to continue on with what she wanted say until the high-pitched beeping sound of her pager cut off at the moment. "Damn, looks like the people downstairs are calling for me for a consult. We should better get going. They must be looking for us."

The two of them stood up and returned to the elevator. As they made their journey down to the elevator, Carol couldn't help but wonder what would Elizabeth tell her that she trusts her so much, she would just say it without hesitation. No one has trusted Carol with something like that, which made her grateful, and a little scared of what is going to happen next.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the elevator's screeching halt as they finally reached the ER. The place has calmed down a little bit since they went up the rooftop, with only the trail of empty saline bottles, traces of blood, and racks of empty vials left.

Carol and Elizabeth approached the admit desk before going their separate ways. "Somebody calling me?"

"Dr. Carter's calling for you in Exam One.", Jerry answered. "He said his patient is a female with abdominal pain."

Elizabeth walked towards Exam One, where she found Carter, Haleh, and a female patient who seems to have difficulty sitting up. "What seems to be the problem?"

"Complaints of abdominal pain. Right lower quadrant tenderness with rebound on exam. Temp's 99.5. No sexual intercourse for the past six months, and she just had her period last week."

She then started to examine the woman's abdomen, feeling it in a counter-clockwise direction. Upon reaching the lower part of the right side, she winced in pain. "Possible appendicitis. Ectopic pregnancy's been ruled out since she just menstruated. We need to bring her upstairs to the OR."

"What's that?", the patient asked.

Elizabeth then rolled the woman's gurney out of the exam room. "Appendicitis is where your appendix gets inflamed, causing the pain. We'll take you to surgery so we can remove the appendix right away before complications develop."

A couple of hours have passed, and the surgeon was finally done with her shift. She was hanging out with Mark, Doug and Carol when Susan emerged from the lounge in Elizabeth's teal dress, red heels and carefully curled hair.

Doug was the first person to notice, casually looking at the blonde from head to toe. "Looks like somebody is very much ready to paint the town red tonight."

Susan opened her purse and took out her cellphone to start dialing her date's number. "Is my date here already? He said he's going to pick me up after my shift."

"I don't even know who your date is.", Doug said.

Just then, a burly man with shoulder length hair wearing a flight nurse jacket over his suit holding a bouquet of white orchids walked through the ambulance bay doors. "Where's my beautiful Susie?"

The doctor gave her distinctive grin and blushed at the flight nurse's words, "Chuck...Wait a second, why are you still in your jacket just before our dinner?"

"Duty called at the last minute. Now you, my dear, look like a million bucks."

Susan playfully slapped Chuck's shoulder. "Oh stop it. You don't look so bad yourself."

Elizabeth then cut off Chuck and Susan's moment. "Wait, I thought you've already annulled your marriage as soon as you came back to Chicago?"

Chuck gave a slight chuckle at Elizabeth's question and winked at her. "Well, something happened. Let's just leave it at that."

He and Susan walked out of the admit area hand in hand, with Susan's purse dangling from her arm as they walked away.

Carol then mentioned her wishes. "Have fun!"

"We will!", Susan shouted back before disappearing from view. As soon as they walked out, Elizabeth posed a question to her companions. "I wonder what happened. A few weeks ago, Susan was adamant of not getting back with him."

Mark simply shrugged his shoulders. "Susan told me she was dating a flight nurse, but I only knew his name just now."

Elizabeth as about to say something when Haleh butted in the conversation. "Dr. Greene, somebody's coming in right now with a broken leg and pelvis from a hit-and-run."

Mark, Elizabeth, and Carter, who was coming from the other side of the admit desk positioned themselves near the ambulance bay to greet the incoming trauma. Moments later, the rig came, and Pamela Olbes opened the ambulance doors. "Fifteen year old female in a hit-and-run. Broken left leg and crushed left pelvis, probably lost a couple of liters. BP 100 over 70, pulse 65"

As Olbes revealed the patient in the gurney, Mark and Elizabeth suddenly felt like everything was in slow motion, like how Mark found Ella being treated for ecstasy in the trauma room.

_It's Rachel.  
><em>


End file.
